


All You Need

by spdervrses



Category: Boy Meets World
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Frenemies, eventual Endgame
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:36:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23315500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spdervrses/pseuds/spdervrses
Summary: It goes like this.Angela needs a fake boyfriend to show her father and convince him that she's not lonely and sad. Shawn Hunter needs a girlfriend to prove that he is, in fact, boyfriend material.It goes like this.Tender kisses, long nights talking about anything and everything. Fingertips brushing bare skin and a shiver down her spine as a result. Declarations of love that feel too intense to be fake and make every hair stand up on the back of her neck.It goes like this.They fall, slowly and all at once. Without a warning. And Shawn Hunter, doe-eyed and charming as he is, will be her downfall.
Relationships: Jack Hunter/Eric Matthews (Boy Meets World), Shawn Hunter/Angela Moore, Topanga Lawrence-Matthews/Cory Matthews
Comments: 10
Kudos: 60





	1. Prologue

Angela found no comfort tonight in the silk dress that stuck to her skin like a second skin, making her every move mesmerizing and leaving her back nearly completely exposed. The diamond choker around her neck felt like a noose. A gift from her father, that had come soon after she'd informed him that she had managed to get around to finally going on a date with Oscar. The choker had come without a note, simply a price tag and a receipt. He didn't need to say much else.

There wasn't much else to be said.

She'd truly never imagined that she could ever dread the opportunity to dress up and look good, but she'd found herself dreading this day from the very moment that she'd made the date. Angela considered rescheduling and spending the night eating several tubs of ice cream in her very expensive dress, but she could only be sick so many times in a month before he began to question it. She would simply get to this date and get it over with.

Angela stepped in through the doors, her hand clutching a purse at her side as if her life depends on it. Her hair was pinned up neatly behind her. Standing at a table at the corner of the room with his hand held up to catch her attention was Oscar, his expression beaming. Her steps were measured and calculated.

"Hey. Wow, you look amazing." His eyes scanned over her from head to toe appreciatively, lingering on the curve of her hips in the dark dress before his eyes snapped back up to meet hers. His face appeared flushed. "You look great."

Angela found that it wasn't nearly as hard as she'd imagined finding a smile. The corners of her lips turned upwards at the compliment. She knew, of course, that she looked amazing. She hadn't spent literal hours getting ready to look anything else, but it was nice to receive a compliment as genuine as this. And if there was anything that Oscar was, it was genuine. "Thank you. You look amazing as well."

She stepped back to take a seat but before she could make a move, he was behind her, pulling her chair out with an easy motion. Her smile dropped. Angela muttered her appreciation to him under her breath. It was strange to her how quickly her attitude towards him could change. One moment she was commenting on how sweet he was and the next she couldn't stand the sight of him. Somehow the harder he tried, the more she withdrew, and she couldn't explain it.

"So what do you want to order? The duck salad looks good." Her features must have resembled something off disgust as Oscar scrambled to correct his words, visibly flustered. "Or, we don't have to have duck salad, o-of course. It's just that the last time that I was here, it was the thing that got here the fastest and I figured that you wouldn't, you know, want to wait. Unless you don't mind waiting."

Angela didn't mind waiting. Truthfully, that was the farthest thing from her mind. She didn't care about the duck salad, quite frankly. Something about this entire date simply, felt, off. There was no better way to explain it. She felt like a sleepwalker, moving numbly through this date. She was nodding where it felt appropriate and answering questions with single words. Angela didn't understand why it was so difficult for her to make a connection with him.

On paper, they worked well together. Oscar was older, by a few years and he was mature as well. He has his life together and he had a good job, which was more than she could say for herself and most people her age in fact. He was good looking. It was one of the first things that she'd noticed about him because she was superficial that way. He had soft brown eyes that often looked as if they were flecked with gold and shielded by long lashes. He was tall and lean and had a bone structure that was bound to draw eyes wherever he went. And odd as it was, he was kind and confident without being narcissistic which was the last thing she expected from somebody who looked like him.

On paper, he was very much her type. In theory, it didn't quite work that way.

But he was perfect, in every aspect. So, the problem had to be with her, didn't it?

Oscar was peering at her over his menu, his eyes searching. Only then did it dawn that she'd spaced out mid-conversation. She rearranged her features to form a smile, however, strained it might be. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"Uh, I was wondering if you just wanted to start off with dessert or something instead?"

"Sure," she answered, her tone far too enthusiastic for such a simple question.

He waved a waiter over. He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. Instead, he looked odd with his eyes wide open at her and his lips parted. Angela raised her brow at him, and he smiled, rearranging his features. "You know I really didn't think you'd be open to going on another date with me after the last one."

Their last date, he had accidentally spilt wine down her shirt, cutting their date in half. Angela hadn't been too upset about that seeing as it had been riddled awkward silences and stilted conversations. She nearly hadn't said yes again but then she'd remembered that when her father had set them up, he'd seemed rather hopeful that they would have a good time and very worried that she was lonely. He'd called her every day for a week straight before that because he was worried that she was isolating herself. Angela could handle another date, if only for her father.

"Honestly, I wasn't sure but then I figured, free food can never hurt." He stared at her with furrowed brows for a moment and Angela rushed to correct herself. She smiled a weak smile in his direction. "That was a joke."

Oscar laughed a little laugh that somewhere made his eyes brighter and made him even more attractive. "I know. I'm not that boring." She hoped she hadn't said that aloud. She's thought it though. "I know that'd what you were probably thinking and honestly, I don't blame you. I've been sitting here trying to think up something interesting to talk about."

"And..."

"And honestly, you're kind of intimidating." She raised her brow at him. "Okay, maybe I'm just intimidated. I mean, you're sitting there, and you look so good. Have I mentioned that you look great?"

She smiled. It was genuine, which took her by surprise.

"Because you look really great and no matter how charming whatever I come up with sounds in my head, it doesn't come out correctly. And you don't seem to like when I hold out your chair or offer to pick you up. And I'm kind of walking blind here because I feel like I know nothing about you but the less that I know, the more I want to know."

This all sounded very close to a confession of love. And it was sweet, so very syrupy sweet. Angela should have felt butterflies but all that she could find was dread, forming in the pits of her stomach and rising in a bubble to her throat.

"I'm sorry if that was a lot," he said.

Angela couldn't figure out what it was that made this so hard. It couldn't be Oscar because she was sure that at any other stage of her life, she would have been glad to meet a guy like him. Perhaps, despite the fact that she was worried about letting her dad down after he'd set them up, something about him setting her up was turning her away from him. Perhaps she wanted the freedom to date whomever she picked and not just the guy that he thought would be good for her. Perhaps it was the last lingering bits of teenage rebellion. Or maybe her father was right, and she'd closed herself off so much to the idea a relationship that she was pushing him away before he could get any closer. Whatever it was, she wasn't ready for this. Not in the slightest and she had to figure out a way to get herself out of this.

"No, it's not a lot at all. And you're great. Really great. I just, I feel like I've made a mistake." His face fell instantly. "I'm in love with somebody else."

The words left her lips without a thought. As she said them, she felt an overwhelming shock wash over her. It wasn't true. Not in the slightest. She was as single as it got, and she hadn't had a real relationship in a while. And yet, of the two evils, one being; breaking his heart for reasons that she didn't even know when he was staring at her with big eyes, innocent as he looked and the other being; telling a simple harmless lie, Angela thought that this was the lesser evil.

"I'm really sorry. I'm just, coming off a really long relationship and I thought it would be easier to move on, but I can't. I'm so sorry."

His expression was stunned. He sat frozen in his seat; his sad eyes only shocked now. Oscar blinked slowly. "Wow."

"I'm really sorry."

And just for the record, _that_ at least was true.

"Nothing to be sorry about. You can't help your feelings, can you? And there's not really much I can do to change your mind."

Angela shook her head at him. She felt lighter somehow. It was as if a weight was lifted off her shoulders somehow. She smiled at him, although she felt guilty at having lied to him. But he didn't know that, and he didn't even have to know. No harm, no foul.

And they hadn't even gotten to the first course. She guessed she would have time for ice cream after all.


	2. Liar, Liar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angela goes to a party with her friends, and runs into the last person she wants to see.

"Cory. You wanna smell my armpits? I haven't put on deodorant in two days." Shawn grinned, approaching his best friend, his left arm lifted into the air, the long follicles sticking out of the pit of his arm coiled.

Shawn excitedly watched as Cory removed his arm from around Topanga, closing the gap between them and crouching down slightly, his face inching towards the area beneath Shawn's arm, quickly recoiling in disgust, a gag coming up his throat as he backed away. Shawn's grin never faltered and neither did Topanga's disgusted facial expression, and once the smell faded away, Cory laughed and nodded. "That's pretty good, Shawnie." He pointed at him with a grin and slow nod.

"I know right!" Shawn smirked, holding his hand up directly for a high five. Cory had just smacked his hand against Shawn's when the door entered and in waltzed Angela, a focused look on her face. Shawn looked past Cory and began walking around her, a mischievous grin on his face. "So... wanna smell my manliness funk?" He wiggled his eyebrows, holding up his arms.

She sat down her shower caddy on the bench, and stood up straight with her hands at her hips, facing Shawn, unamused. "Shawn, if you don't get your stinky armpits out of my face, I'm going to break your arms off and replace them with your legs." Angela gave a sarcastic smile, more bitterness than usual laced in her tone.

"Gee, who pissed in her cereal?" Shawn murmured to Cory, who hadn't been standing too far off from him, his brown eyes widened in horror at Angela's threat. Angela narrowed her eyes at the two boys and scoffed, turning away and looking back at her caddy, beginning to rummage through it as she searched for an item.

Angela Moore did not care for Shawn, this they all knew. From the first day of kindergarten, when he licked her pizza and dropped it back on her lunch tray, only for her to catch him in her peripheral vision and stand to her feet and dump all of her food on top of his head, the two had been bickering since then. If he was in her presence and she wasn't rolling her eyes so hard that they got stuck and he wasn't irritating her to death, people got worried. So, it was no surprise she was chewing him out.

But... something was different today. She had barely spoken a word to anyone and when she threatened him, they all felt the truth in her words. She seemed agitated and distracted, in Shawn's opinion. And sure, that could just be her being a little extra with her threats today but even in spite of their tense relationship, he knew her pretty well. And something was up.

"Angela, is everything okay?" Topanga took a step forward towards her best friend, hesitance in her voice that matched the concern pooling in her round eyes. All eyes were now on Angela who simply sighed in response, plopping down on the wooden bench, massaging her temples frustratedly. The three friends exchanged looks of concern, looking back at Angela.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Angela sighed deeply, "it's nothing. I'm fine. Just thinking about some stuff, that's all. I'm fine though." She waved them off, plastering a fake smile on her face that didn't quite reach her eyes, her words repeated in an attempt to convince herself, Shawn assumed.

"You know you can talk to us, right, Angela?" Cory raised an eyebrow, taking a seat next to her, nudging her in her arm gently. She gave him a grateful smile, a small chuckle leaving her.

"I know. I'm fine guys, really. It's nothing too serious," Angela assured them. Topanga and Cory exchanged unconvinced expressions, their eyes flickering over at Shawn who had been silent the entire time, his eyes boring down on Angela, his emotions unclear. He was just as concerned about Angela as them, but he would never admit it. At least not in the open and certainly not in front of Angela. That had never been their relationship.

"Okay," Topanga nodded, taking a deep breath and tucking some of her hair behind her ears out of habit. "If you say so." Angela smiled fondly at her friend, reaching her hand out and squeezing Topanga's hand gently.

Shawn allowed his eyes to linger on Angela a few more moments and her eyes averted over to him, the two staring at each other for a quick second before both of them peeled their eyes away, looking anywhere but each other.

"So, gang," Cory stood to his feet, clasping his hands together with a deep breath, looking in between the group with a mischievous grin. "I have made plans for all of us tonight. We are going to a college party! Woo-hoo!" He fisted the air, a cheshire grin spread across his lips, a frown replacing the grin when he noticed his friends and his girlfriend weren't as excited as him. "What? Why are you guys not as excited as me?"

"Oh, sweet, innocent Cory," Shawn sighed deeply, shaking his head and inching closer to his confused friend, placing his hand at his cheek, patting it gently, "we are not children anymore. We don't get excited about going to parties. It's a normal thing now."

"Yeah, Cory." Angela nodded, standing up from the bench, her caddy in hand. "It's not that big a deal. It's just another party. And besides, I don't think I'm up for it tonight. Just not feeling it." She shrugged, beginning to make her way around the bench and over to one of the showers.

Before she was even around the bench, Cory was hopping over it and standing in front of her like a blockade, disbelief written across his face. "What do you mean you don't think you're up for it tonight?" He repeated her words sourly, his arms extended out like he was an airplane.

Angela blinked. "I'm just not in the mood."

"What do you mean you're just not in the mood?"

"Cory— "

"What do you mean _Cory_?" He continued dumbly, face scrunched together.

"Cory." The three of them echoed together in disappointment, but all Cory did was narrow his eyes at them.

"No, Angela. You are putting on the cutest thing in your closet and going partying with the rest of us. Not only do I have to find you your soulmate tonight but the group just won't be complete without you." Cory stated. Shawn rolled his eyes; Cory was always trying to play matchmaker for the both of them when they went out anywhere since they were both single.

"Ignoring the first part but he's right Angela," Topanga said, looking over at her friend, "it won't be the same without you. And maybe going to a party tonight might get your mind off of things." She suggested.

All eyes were now on Angela, awaiting her response, and after a few seconds of silence, Angela sighed, defeated. "Fine. I'll go." Cory hissed out a yes but Angela held up her index finger, making him pause. "But I don't need you trying to get involved in my love life, Cory. I appreciate it but stay out of it. At least for the night. If you can promise you'll do that, I give you my word that I'll go." She gave him a stern look.

Shawn definitely understood that. He was getting very annoyed that his friend would nearly point out every woman waltzing past them and ask, "what about her?" to the point where Shawn would have to get up and leave before he smacked Cory. His intentions were genuine, but he needed to ease up. He wasn't desperately seeking out love or anything.

"But I want you to find your Topanga," Cory fake sniffled, puckering his bottom lip out and trying to be cute. Shawn quirked an eyebrow and Angela burst into laughter, ruffling the top of Cory's head.

"Newsflash, Matthews. I already have a Topanga." Angela smirked playfully.

"Hi, honey," Topanga smiled, wrapping her arms around Angela's frame, pressing her cheek to hers, both girls laughing. Cory blinked at the two, before slowly turning to face Shawn, extending his arms out for a hug, the curves of his lips curling upwards, his lashes batting.

"Hi, honey." Cory smiled gently, walking over to where Shawn stood, trying to imitate Angela and Topanga, who watched them amusedly.

"Go away, weirdo," Shawn playfully said, his brows furrowed as he flung his towel over at Cory, who gracefully caught it, a frown now adorning his face. "Sorry to be the barer of bad news, Cory, but we don't need you to steer our love lives for us. We're doing fine. Right, Angela?" He raised an eyebrow, looking over at her for confirmation.

She nodded. "Right."

Shawn grinned. "Wow. I think thats the first thing we've agreed on in a while."

"Shut up, Hunter. I still plan on dancing on your grave when you die." Angela smiled sweetly, arms folded at her chest now that Topanga had released her.

"Hey, don't excite me," Shawn said with a straight face, pointing at her. Angela blinked at him before rolling her eyes, ripping one of the shower curtains open, stepping inside. He shook his head, a soft smile on his face, turning to look back at Cory, placing his hand on his shoulder. "Sorry bud, but that's just the way it has to be. I don't want to find a girlfriend. I want to find someone who'll stick their tongue down my throat and treat me like crap."

"You should probably take that up with a therapist," Topanga gave him an odd look, picking up her shower bag, walking over to the shower on the left of the one Angela was now showering in. Shawn simply shrugged.

"Fine, I'll but out but _only_ for tonight," Cory huffed, pointing at him, "that goes for you too, Angela!" Cory called out so she could hear him from the shower. "I paid twenty bucks to start an online dating profile for the both of you and I plan on putting those twenty bucks to good use." He scoffed, turning away from Shawn and storming out of the bathroom.

~

Shawn had been at this party for only thirty minutes and it absolutely sucked. He couldn't believe how awful the deejay was, practically all of the snacks had been gone when they stepped in the party despite being ten minutes _early_ , and everywhere he turned, there was Cory and Topanga, hands all over each other and nearly swapping more spit than he'd liked to see. The only good thing was that there was a lot of alcohol to go around.

"Okay, riddle me this," Shawn began, fingers sprawled around the red cup half filled with alcohol, "if its mountain, fountain, and so on, why is maintain? What kind of sense does that make?" He screwed his face together, eyes staring ahead as he tried to piece it together himself.

Angela sighed, looking at Shawn, "Shawn. I don't know. Do I look like I created the English language?" She murmured annoyingly. He could see her looking around the room, which wasn't that full, with low techno music being played. He understood that facial expression; she was bored.

The only reason why Shawn was still there was because they had all came in one car and the party host —a friend of theirs– had begged them to stay, promising that it would pick up later. They'd shown up too early, thanks to Topanga who thought it was a good idea to be punctual, much to everyone's dismay.

He paused, staring at her for a few seconds, inspecting her face. "Maybe." He shrugged and she looked at him flatly, shaking her head and looking away, continuing to look around the party. He sucked in a breath, taking a sip of his drink and allowing his eyes to graze over Cory and Topanga who were making out on the couch, disgust taking over his facial features. "God look at'em. Do they ever get tired?"

Angela lips parted to respond before she stopped, eyes slowly moving over to the cup in his hand. He didn't notice her eyeing his cup until she cleared her throat and her fingers brushed over his as she grabbed it to tilt it over so she could glance into it. She released it and looked at him warily. "Are you drinking?"

"Relax, _mom_ ," He rolled his eyes sarcastically, "its my first and last cup. Also, its barely even half a cup and I mixed it with juice." He waved her off, bringing the cup back to his lips but before he could, it was yanked out of his hand and he nearly had to jump back so it wouldn't splash on him. He gaped down at the wasted alcohol and back up at her, "Angela, what the hell?"

"When I said I wanted you to die, I meant of like natural causes or at the end of my knife. Not by drinking yourself to death." Angela glared at him.

He smiled sarcastically. "Well, how thoughtful of you." She rolled her eyes. "Give it back. I'm not even binge drinking, it's just one drink, what's the big deal?" He scoffed.

"You know what's the big deal, Hunter, don't play dumb," Angela scoffed in return. He glared at her and she glared back, not backing down.

Again, Angela Moore was not his biggest fan but that didn't mean she could avoid being in his life when they were both close with Cory and Topanga. So, she was well aware of his family problems (more aware than they liked to admit) and his problems with drinking. But currently, he wished she would simply hate him and leave him be.

"Butt out, Angela." Shawn took a deep breath.

"Shawn, the last thing we need— " She suddenly stopped talking, her eyes widened in horror and gazing past him. His eyebrows, furrowed in anger, relaxed and he turned to the side to follow her eyes and get a good look of what she was looking at. There were a few people standing in the direction of the front door where she was looking, but he couldn't make out who she was looking at. "Oh my god."

"What? What's wrong?" Shawn furrowed his eyebrows back together, looking at her again, confused.

"Shit," she cursed, quickly setting the cup down and wiping her wet hands on his shirt, which made him look at her like she was crazy and slap her hands away, which went ignored by her. She peeled her eyes away from who she was looking at and suddenly grabbed Shawn by his shirt with both hands, pulling her to him with a death glare. "Be my boyfriend."

"Only if you ask nicely," Shawn smirked, letting his eyes roll over her very briefly. Angela glared at him, which only made him laugh. "Angela, you're being weird. What— "

"Angela?"

Angela jumped, practically into Shawn, turning to face the unfamiliar voice. Shawn peeled his eyes from the strange acting woman, looking over at the male now standing in front of them, his eyes flickering between the two of them. Shawn had never seen the guy before in his life but whoever he was, he seemed to have some effect on Angela because she was acting weird.

"Oscar! Hi!" Her voice pitched tremendously, furthering Shawn's suspicions. He'd known Angela since she was a kid; whenever she was nervous or lying, her voice got really high and she acted overly excited. Something was definitely up. "Hey, what are you doing here?" She stammered, tucking some of her braids behind her ear, her arm pressed into Shawn's body.

Shawn whistled awkwardly, stuffing his hands in his pockets, the tension so uncomfortable and awkward that he nearly wanted to walk away but that would have made it even more awkward. And truthfully, he was intrigued. He wanted to know what was going on with Angela and this guy.

Oscar stared at them, before clearing his throat and scratching his neck. "My friend's little brother threw the party. I decided to tag along." He explained, eyes lingering on Shawn. Shawn didn't know what else to do, definitely confused with everything, so he gave a smile and an awkward nod to him. Oscar nodded back, a soft but tense smile appearing on his lips. "I'm guessing you're the boyfriend." He pursed his lips, pointing at him with both fingers.

Shawn didn't miss the envy dripping in his tone and he almost felt guilty, until he really processed what he had said. He couldn't even stop the scoff of disbelief that came up his throat, his eyebrows sketched together. "I'm the _what_?" He nearly laughed but instead found himself grunting in pain when Angela jammed her elbow in his lower abdomen. He managed to remain still, shooting her death glare before looking back over at Oscar. "I was just kidding, honey." Shawn said, straining his voice.

"Yeah, well you're not funny, sweetheart," Angela sweetly replied, giving Oscar a sweet smile, his eyes darting suspiciously between the two.

"She hates when I do that," Shawn sucked in a breath, smiling sweetly as he smoothly placed an arm around her shoulders, "usually, I follow up with I'm not the boyfriend; I'm the fiancé, but turns out, people will think you're actually engaged when you say stuff like that. Crazy, right?" Shawn chuckled, head hanging lightly as he shook his head.

"Because that's what it means when you tell someone you're their fiancé, sweet cheeks," Angela smiled tensely, turning to face him and pat his cheeks lightly, although there was a murderous glint in her eyes. Their faces were so close that they could detect their emotions in their eyes; he was clearly amused and she was giving him a death glare that could have meant a range of things.

"You know me, babe," Shawn grinned, tapping the pad of his index finger at her nose, "I'm good with words. Not meanings." She gave him a look that told him to shut up and to piss her off, he began to say the next thing, his eyes caught a glimpse of Cory sitting completely up on the couch, staring at them with a look of bewilderment, frozen where he sat.

"You're a very lucky guy..." Oscar trailed off, unsure of his name.

"Shawn." Shawn smiled, holding out his hand.

Oscar nodded, engulfing him in a handshake. "Shawn. I'm Oscar."

"Wow, Oscar." Shawn lightly laughed, eyes on his arms. "Pretty tight grip you have there." He whistled, pulling away from the handshake. "And you're right, Oscar. I _am_ a lucky guy." Shawn looked at Angela, tightening his arm around her waist and pressing further against her. They fought each other with their eyes, and Shawn could see from his peripheral vision that Oscar was watching them, waiting.

They seemed to struggle with the fact that they had to seal the deal with a kiss, but finally, Angela closed the gap between them and connected their lips. He didn't react at first, too in shock that they were actually kissing, before he began kissing her back, his lips moving with hers, his hand moving up to hold her jaw gently, the kiss lasting longer than both of them intended.

She pulled away finally when she heard Oscar clear his throat, her eyes lingering on Shawn before looking over at Oscar, and Shawn could see the guilt on her face that they'd kissed in front of him. But Shawn didn't feel bad; the guy was clearly suspicious and waiting to see if they'd kiss so they did.

"What the freak?!" All three of them looked over at Cory, who was gawking at them, his jaw nearly to the ground, with Topanga standing besides him, clearly surprised herself but not as dramatic as her fiancé. "You two?! When? How? And how could I be the last to know?!" Cory shrieked, his finger moving accusingly between the two, causing a few party goers nearby to glance at him.

Shawn looked over at Angela, who looked conflicted with what to say, and he cleared his throat, looking back at Cory. "Cory, we didn't tell you because we didn't want you to react like this." He really hated to lie to his friends, but clearly Angela had wanted to lie to Oscar for some reason, he didn't want to humiliate her. Besides, they could tell Cory and Topanga later that they were just pretending.

"Honey," Cory turned to Topanga, sadness written across his face, "please tell me I'm dreaming." He solemnly said.

"Come on, Cory. Let's go get you some fresh air." Topanga smiled softly, grabbing his hand and beginning to pull him towards the front door, not without sparing her friends a glance. Once they left them, an awkward silence lingered between the three of them.

Angela cleared her throat, tucking some of her hair behind her ear and avoiding eye contact with Oscar. Shawn felt bad, so he looked at Oscar, offering a sheepish smile. "As you can see, our friends are quite the dramatics. Its just... no one expected us to get together. But... we love each other. We're tired of hiding from the world." Shawn said, looking at Angela fondly, doing his best to sound earnest.

Shawn was seriously considering changing his major to theatre.

"Well," Oscar cleared his throat, "I'm happy for you both, really. It was nice meeting you, Shawn. I'll see you around, Angela, okay?" He softly said, gently squeezing her free hand and allowing his eyes to linger on them one last time before he made his way down the hallway, giving them one last look over his shoulder before he disappeared out of sight.

Once he was gone, Angela huffed and shoved Shawn away. He glanced in the direction that Oscar disappeared and looked back at Angela, grinning happily. "Okay, with that performance I gave, I could easily give Brad Pitt a run for his money." He laughed, deep brown hair flopping across his face as he jumped up and down excitedly. Angela looked at him, shaking her head and he stopped jumping. "Now, care to explain what all of that was about?"

"Later. Come on, we're leaving." Angela said, grabbing him by his hand, pulling him behind her and ignoring his objections.


	3. Love and War

Angela had not let go of his hand. She wasn't sure why. They weren't friends and they only ever managed to see each other because they had mutual friends. It wasn't a secret that they didn't like each other and yet, the way that she was holding onto him as he was a lifeline, one would never know. But the warmth of his skin against hers and his fingers wrapped around her single finger as she wove through the crowds of people was difficult to ignore. 

She had not given him a chance to speak to Oscar or to her, for that matter. She had simply grabbed his hand and led him through the crowd of people ducking past intense conversations and couples tangled up in each other, heading for the door. Angela had continued to lead him out not once sparing a glance back to him; she was sure that if she did she would find herself staring at a concerned expression or one of anger. She wasn't sure which was worse. To his credit, Shawn didn't say much which was no small feat for him. He was silent up until they finally stopped moving at the café. 

Still, she didn't let go of his hand. 

Angela finally turned around; her eyes trained on him. She couldn't quite make out his expression or what it was that he was feeling. She was suddenly more aware of how close they stood. The last time they'd been this close, the circumstances had been entirely different, in what now felt like worlds away. 

The expression on her face must have been concerning. "Are you okay?" Shawn asked, his brows furrowed.

Angela felt exposed. "I'm fine," she bit back. Because she was. She didn't need his sympathy or his false idea of friendship. Things had not been that way between the two of them since they had slept in the same bed, his chest pressed against her back and the heat of his breath at her neck. They would not go back to being that way between them and she didn't need them to. 

She released his hand as if the heat of his skin burned her. 

Shawn's mask of concern fell quickly, giving way to a smirk and a sarcastic glint in his eyes. She was more reassured by this. This was the Shawn that she was familiar with. "So how long have you been fighting your urge to kiss me? I mean, it can't have been easy for you."

Angela rolled her eyes at him. "As if. You're a bad kisser, either way."

Shawn took a sharp intake of breath, stumbling back as if her words physically hurt him. "How ... dare you?"

Angela rolled her eyes at him, turning on her heels as she headed for the display of snacks ahead of her. Shawn was hot on her heels, speaking the entire time. "I have been kissing since before an age that was socially acceptable and I'll have you know that in all my years of work, I have never had a single complaint. I am an objectively good kisser."

He was, or he probably was. Angela had far too much on her mind at the time of the kiss and was far too preoccupied with wondering if making Oscar watch her kiss somebody else was inconsiderate to focus on the person that she was kissing. She was sure that if she was paying attention, she would have enjoyed the kiss. Regardless, she didn't plan on sharing that information with Shawn. She enjoyed watching him squirm, even if it was just for a moment. 

"Are you? Because my lips say otherwise." She spared a quick glance at him. 

"Well, then you have to be the problem. It's not as if I had a lot to time to react with you shoving your tongue down my throat."

"I've never had a complaint about my tongue down somebody's throat before." Angela picked out a chocolate chip muffin before taking a bite from it. She cut him a quick glance. "Take something."

"Thank you." He picked up a cinnamon roll and three cookies. "Well, neither have I. So one of us has to be lying."

Angela spun on her heels so that she was staring Shawn right in the face now. There was hardly any space between them. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Well do you want to try again?" She watched his lashes brush against his pale skin. With her free finger, she brushed the side of his hair away from his face and behind his ear, leaving her hand there. "For research purposes, of course." Her lips curled into a smile.

For somebody with a flirty comment for each occasion, Shawn was strangely quiet. He stared at her with wide eyes before swallowing harshly, the Adam's apple in his throat, bobbing up and down. He seemed incapable of moving. 

Angela chuckled underneath her breath. "Exactly," she whispered before turning around. She placed a ten-dollar bill on the counter, and she waited for the student with the tired expression and ratty old uniform to count her change. 

"That's not fair," Shawn argued behind her, suddenly finding his words. 

"Haven't you heard?" She waved his hand in an animated manner over her shoulder. "All's fair in love and war or whatnot, Hunter."

"So, we're in love now?" He followed her slowly towards the table where she placed her bag. 

"Call it whatever you'd like."

"Well, then do you want explain why you kissed me?" He took a seat in the chair opposite her. "Or am I supposed to believe that you were just fulfilling some long-time fantasy of yours because you know I have no problem believing that?"

Angela wasn't sure how to explain it to him, not when she was having trouble explaining it to herself. She hadn't needed to sell Oscar on anything, not really. She had ended things with him and so what if she had lied in the process? She didn't owe him anything and yet, in the moment, she had panicked, and she had ended up in this situation. Whatever this situation was. 

Angela stirred the hot chocolate in front of her, keeping her eyes trained on the table. "I kissed you because you were a warm body. I needed to sell a lie and you just happened to be the person closest to me. Lucky you."

"That's not enough of an explanation. It looked to me like you were trying to make whoever that guy was jealous. And I have no problem being used—" he wiggled his brow at her "—but I would like to at least know why."

Angela sighed, raising her eyes to meet his finally. For once, his gaze was not playful or teasing. He was waiting, for her answer. "That guy, his name is Oscar. I went on a few dates with him because my dad set us up but I wasn't feeling it and I knew that my dad would want to speak to him about it so I told him I was still in love with my ex-boyfriend."

Shawn nodded at her, understanding in his eyes. "And I would be—"

"—the ex-boyfriend, exactly."

"I don't understand, though. Why wouldn't you just tell your dad you didn't like him?"

"Because he worries about me for whatever reason. And if he thinks that I'm back with some ex-boyfriend, he wouldn't feel the need to set me up and I don't think I can go on one more blind date." She raised her mug to her lips. "Must think I'm lonely or something."

A beat. "Well, are you?"

Angela rolled her eyes at him. "Maybe." She wasn't sure why she said that, but she didn't see a reason to lie. There was no need for her to impress him when his opinion meant nothing to her. "But I like it better this way."

Shawn took a bite from his cinnamon roll. "Me too." He offered her a smile and to her credit, she returned it. Bright teeth and all. "So, what now?"

Angela raised her brow at him. "Nothing now. I kissed you. It was heat of the moment and I don't really need you for anything else. You've served your purpose." They would go back to being what they always had been. Not friends but not strangers either but individuals who only barely tolerated each other. Nothing had to change. She forced out the last words. "Thank you."

Shawn raised his lips in a smirk at her. "Well, if you do need a warm body again." Angela rolled her eyes at him. "No, I mean it. If you need it, I'm down for all fake boyfriend duties except for maybe anything without clothes on. I don't think you could handle it."

A scoff from her. 

"It's the least I could do after you saved me all those years ago."


	4. The Beginning

Shawn Hunter had kissed Angela Moore.

The same Angela Moore who would occasionally pretend to be nice to him in the second grade and offer to tie his shoes, only for him to realize moments later when she walked away, and he was face planted on the ground that she had ties the laces of both sneakers together. Angela Moore, the girl who he merely tolerated for the sake of Cory and Topanga, yet who had saved him countless times, especially when she didn't have to.

That's the girl he had kissed not even eight hours ago.

He had laid in bed for a solid two hours after it happened (an hour and a half really; he spent thirty minutes waiting for Cory to fall asleep after he pretended to sleep so Cory wouldn't be able to question him), the event playing in his mind and the soft buzz of her lips on his still lingering, in pure disbelief. The surprise was reasonable but what didn't sit right with him was the fact that he was making such a big deal out of it when it wasn't a big deal at all.

He had played the role of the fake boyfriend before. It was how he made enough money to buy his friends Christmas gifts last year; a classmate paid him to be her boyfriend to piss off her conservative, Christian parents. He didn't mind being used by girls and that's what exactly Angela had done, so why was he thinking about it so hard?

Was it the fact that he was anxious it would be uncomfortable around her afterwards? Or that his shock hadn't allowed him to properly enjoy the kiss? Or the fact that even in spite of reacting so late, he had enjoyed the kiss and discovered she was a really good kisser?

It brought back memories of when he hit puberty. He'd always been girl crazy but once he started the transition into a teenager, he realized that Angela Moore was very pretty, even if she had promised him she would dance on his grave at death ever since they were younger. Maybe that was it; he was uncomfortable that those thoughts about what it'd be like kissing her when he was fifteen had been buried a long time ago and now, he was reflecting on them like a foolish schoolboy after one stupid, meaningless kiss.

These thoughts weighed heavily on his mind as he tossed and turned for the remainder of the night and when his eyes peeled open that following morning, they immediately came rushing back. But with an overbearing Cory already dressed and ready to interrogate him, the last thing he needed was his confusing thoughts distracting him.

"Finally, you're up," Cory hmphed, uncrossing his legs, standing up from his office chair, arms still crossed at his chest, eyebrows furrowed sternly, and lips set in a straight line. "You have some explaining to do young man." He scoffed, walking over and standing at the edge of Shawn's twin size bed.

"Geesh Cory," Shawn murmured, sitting up in his bed, yawning loudly, "how long were you sitting there waiting for me to wake up?"

"Two hours and an episode of Duck Tales but that's not what matters right now," Cory quickly rushed out, ignoring the odd look he received from his lifelong best friend, "what I want to know is why I had to find out that my two best friends were dating in the middle of a party, along with the rest of the world." He grumbled, pointing at Shawn, clearly enraged.

"Cory, hear me and hear me well," Shawn smiled sarcastically, now standing on his two feet and in front of Cory, his hands rested on Cory's shoulders as he gazed deep into his brown eyes. "You are not entitled to knowing every single detail about my life. Okay?" He smiled sweetly, patting Cory lightly on the cheek before brushing past him, walking over to grab his shower bag off of his desk.

"I'm not?" Cory asked in disbelief, staring at Shawn, watching as he gathered his things together and practically disregarded him. "Cory, I have been your best friend since the beginning of time, basically. You are who I am going to tell my kids about when they ask who my first love was." Cory chuckled as if it was a given, walking towards Shawn. "Not Topanga. You." Cory smiled adoringly, jabbing his finger in Shawn's chest when he turned to completely look at him.

Shawn sighed deeply, placing both of his hands at his hips, with his shower bag tucked underneath his left armpit, staring flatly at an overdramatic Cory. "Cory- "

"No, Shawn," Cory interrupted, shaking his head, "I am entitled to every single detail of your life. We are best friends, that's just what we do."

"No, Cory," Shawn responded with a click of his tongue, "that's not what we do. I know we share a lot of things with each other, but we don't share every little thing we do."

"Since when?"

"Since forever." Shawn laughed, shaking his head. "Imagine if I tried to talk to you about my... midnight activities," Shawn's voice fell to a whisper, despite them being in their dorm room.

"Oh gross, Shawn, please, why would I wanna hear about that?" Cory cringed in disgust, holding his hands up. Shawn laughed, shaking his head and rolling his eyes at the same time.

"See? You just proved my point. We don't need to share every single detail with one another."

"Okay yes but," Cory stepped in front of Shawn before he could take a step towards the door, blocking him from leaving. "I've gone my whole life set on the fact that you and Angela weren't each other's cup of tea. If anyone ever mentioned whether you two were dating, I'd laugh like a hyena because it was never a thought in my mind."

"Wait people would ask you if we were dating?" Shawn frowned, a little curious about that. Not that he cared or wanted people to think that they were, but he wondered why people would think that especially considering the two only interacted if they were bickering or around Topanga and Cory.

"Yeah, I guess they thought since Topanga and I were dating that you and Angela were probably dating too, but that's beside the point," Cory rolled his eyes, waving him off, before quickly continuing with what he had been saying, "my point is that those strangers clearly knew my best friends better than me because you two getting together hasn't crossed my mind at all, yet here you two are, together. And Topanga and I clearly weren't the first ones to know."

"Okay but you two also weren't the last ones to know so that should count for something right?" Shawn grinned, wiggling his eyebrows, pointing at Cory, who simply stared back at him, unamused. Shawn let his arm fall to his side and sighed, shaking his head. "Okay, look, we're sorry we didn't tell you guys, but we knew you guys would either not believe us or freak out like you're doing now."

Shawn didn't understand why he was still lying, especially to Cory. For some reason, he felt like he still needed to lie. Sure, Angela had told him he fulfilled his purpose but there was something gnawing at his stomach telling him that maybe he shouldn't tell Cory that he and Angela had been faking for the moment. And something also told him that even if he had tried to convince Cory they were faking it, it may have been easier to just go with the lie.

"Well, duh, you nincompoop," Cory glared at Shawn, "there has been no hint of you two dating these past few months. So, you two are either that good or... wait," Cory paused, the puzzle pieces beginning to snap together in place in his mind, "how long have you guys been hiding this? Has it been that long that you two are just so good at hiding it? What made you two finally tell us in the first place?" Cory gasped. "Is it because I told you I was officially going to arrange your marriage? Do you distrust my love matching skills that much?"

"Cory, you're doing exactly what we were afraid of you doing; overthinking things," He clearly annunciated the word as he placed his hands-on Cory's shoulders again. "Look, we just started messing around the end of senior year, okay? With you and Topanga figuring out your problems and Eric and Jack doing their own thing too, we just kind of started hanging out together since there wasn't really anyone else around. So, yeah, one thing led to another." Shawn cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck.

Honestly, he wasn't sure how to put together his story was because when it came to his friends, he sucked at hiding the truth. They knew him too well. So, he was hoping Cory believed him.

"I feel like you're leaving out some details, buddy." Cory frowned, wanting to know the entire story.

"Oh, I am," Shawn smiled sweetly, patting him on the shoulder, "it's for your own good though. I'm going to go get ready for class; you should do the same." Shawn clicked his tongue, lightly punching him in his arm before he moved around him, exiting their dorm room, relieved when Cory didn't follow behind him.

After showering and getting ready (with Cory in the shower right next to him, attempting to talk to him) and successfully dodging Cory since he had to go to class, he headed down to the student union instead of turning up for class. He didn't bother letting Cory know he was skipping because the last thing he needed to hear was a speech from him or worst, Topanga, who he knew Cory would for sure tell her and she would certainly list all the consequences of skipping school.

"Hey there, Shawnie," Jack greeted his little brother at the front counter, a friendly grin on his face like usual, leaning on the surfaced area. He furrowed his eyebrows together, scratching the back of his neck. "Wait, shouldn't you be in class?"

"I should be but I'm not," Shawn smirked, pointing at Jack, winking and clicking his tongue at the same time. Jack gave his brother a flat look, and Shawn chuckled, pushing off of the counter, heading around to the fridge full of cold drinks, grabbing a bottle of water. "Oh brother, don't tell me you're going to give me a speech about not skipping class."

"Nope." Jack clicked his tongue, folding his arms and leaning back, watching as his younger brother grabbed his drink and a pack of candy, walking back around to the front counter. "You're a big boy, Shawnie. I'm sure you know what you're doing." He raised an eyebrow, beginning to ring him up.

"You're right, Jack. I am a big boy," Shawn grinned happily, popping his collar. "Oh actually, can you cover me on this? I spent my last twenty bucks at the arcade." He smiled sheepishly, pointing both of his index fingers. Jack rolled his eyes but nodded, pushing the items towards his brother. Shawn opened his mouth to say something else when he spotted a familiar person from the corner of his eye.

He turned, arm still rested on the counter, spotting the familiar brunette seated at one of the furthest tables away from him, with her face buried in a book.

"Hey, weren't you trying to get with her some time ago?" Jack's voice pulled him out of his trance, causing Shawn to look at him briefly. "Whatever happened with that?" Jack nodded curiously to his little brother.

"Stuff. Hey, I'll catch you up later. Thanks for the food by the way." He smiled sweetly at Shawn, grabbing his water and skittles, heading over to the table where the girl was seated. Her head lifted as his presence neared the table and he offered his charming grin, taking a seat at the table. "Well, well, well. What brings you here, Imogen?" He smiled, resting his chin in the palm of his hand.

"You say that as if I wasn't sitting here first and also, this is where most college kids on this campus come to study, grab a snack, you know," She quirked an eyebrow at him, closing the book she had been reading and placing it on the table.

"Oh really?" Shawn gasped mockingly, leaning in further. "Well, who would have thought?"

Imogen rolled her eyes, although there was a tiny smile on her face. "What do you want, Hunter?" She ran a hand through her hair, pushing it out of her face, crossing her arms afterwards.

"I am offended," Shawn gaped, "I don't want anything except to see how my dear friend, Imogen is doing. I know you went to see your family over the break and I just wanted to see how that went." He cleared his throat, nodding to her with a genuine smile.

"Oh really?" It was her turn to raise an eyebrow. 

When Shawn met at a party a few months ago, they hit it off well. It was rare for him to connect with someone from the jump, but they did. They started to hang out without establishing any kind of exclusivity until finally, Shawn realized he wanted something serious with her. It wasn't that she didn't like him but according to her, he had some growing up to do and she wasn't sure if she was looking for anything serious.

So, things had become quite awkward between them in the last few weeks. He missed her but with her not being sure of whether she wanted to be with him and other things in his life, they hadn't interacted very much. He wished she could see that he wasn't childish and lying about wanting to have something serious with her.

"Yep." Shawn nodded. "Just being friendly, that's all." He smiled whistled. Imogen nodded slowly before nodding awkwardly, silence filling the air between them. It was clear that they didn't know what else to say. The last thing he wanted her thinking is that he had come over to press her when really, he hadn't. He was really just being friendly, but he could see how this may have looked.

"Oh, Angela!" Shawn nearly jumped out of his seat when he spotted Angela walking past the student union. She halted in her tracks, looking up, confusion written all over her face. He hardly spared Imogen a look as he stood up from the table, rushing over to a confused Angela. "Hi there, honey." He smiled, placing his hand at her hip, placing a quick kiss at the corner of her lips, giving her a pleading look when he pulled away. "Were you, uh, heading to class?" He cleared his throat, briefly glancing over at Imogen.

Had it been a spur of the moment sort of thing calling Angela over so she could pretend to be his girlfriend? Yes.

"Yeah. Yes," she cleared her throat, offering a fake smile, tightening the strap of her backpack, glancing over at Imogen, who had been watching them curiously throughout the entire exchange. "Hi. I'm Angela, Shawn's... girlfriend." Angela smiled, moving towards the table along with Shawn, extending her left hand to Imogen to sake.

"Oh wow, hi," Imogen smiled politely, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, taking Angela's hand and shaking It gently. "I'm Imogen. It's nice to meet you. You and Shawn were really good friends before you two started dating, right?" Imogen curiously asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Angela smiled awkwardly, nodding and glancing at Shawn.

"That's what I wanted to tell you, Imogen," Shawn pursed his lips together, motioning to her and awkwardly chuckling. "Angela and I started dating over the break." He told her.

For a second, Imogen couldn't even hide her disbelief, but she quickly masked it. "Oh wow, seems I've missed a lot," she chuckled awkwardly, "but uh, I'm really happy for you guys." Imogen's smile was sweet but only a fool would believe it was real. "I actually should get going but Shawn we should totally finish catching up later?" She stood with her textbook, glancing over at Shawn.

"Yeah, of course," Shawn breathed, nodding.

"Great. Well, we can iron out the details later. And of course, Angela, you're more than welcome to join us."

Angela forced a smile, nodding. "Thank you, Imogen." With one last look shared between Imogen and Shawn, Imogen departed from the student union, leaving Shawn standing there beside Angela. Once she was sure Imogen was gone, she turned to Shawn, her eyes burning holes in the side of his face. "That wasn't awkward at all."

"Shut up, I know," Shawn grumbled.

"Let's hope she doesn't find out that we're fake dating. You know Cory has a big mouth and once he opens it, it won't be long until she finds out." Angela raised an eyebrow, before noticing the sheepish look on Shawn's face. "You did tell Cory the truth... right?"

"Well, you see..."

"Shawn." Angela glared at him and he groaned, throwing his hands up in surrender, turning to face her.

"I just didn't feel like explaining why we lied to him. He would have been suspicious and would have probably assumed we actually liked each other so I just kept up with the lie."

"You idiot, either way he would've thought we were dating so you may as well have gone with telling him the truth." Angela deadpanned.

"You're not gonna judge me, oh no, you aren't." Shawn shook his head, wiggling his index finger in front of Angela's face. "Not after I pretended to be your boyfriend because you needed an excuse not to go out with Oscar with zero judgment."

Angela scoffed. "There was a little bit of judgement."

"Okay yes," Shawn rolled his eyes, hands rested at his hips, "but not as much judgement that you're giving me right now." Angela rolled her eyes in response. "Look, I went with my gut feeling not to tell him the truth just yet and now look, it worked out in my favour. Cory does have a big mouth and he would have certainly let it slip that me and you are not dating, thus ruining the plan that I have in mind."

Angela paused, narrowing her eyes at Shawn. "What plan do you have in mind, Hunter?" She glared, moving towards him slowly, causing him to cower back, holding his hands out in front of himself to keep her at bay.

He grinned cheekily. "Well I can't tell you on an empty stomach, that's for sure." By the look on Angela's face, she was very close to choking him out so being cheeky was not working for him right now. The grin on his face vanished and he cleared his throat awkwardly. "I'll buy breakfast."

She considered his offer, narrowing her eyes at him. "Waffle House or Denny's?"

He scoffed. "Please. If I'm buying breakfast for two, it's going to be at a place where the food is worth it. So, obviously Waffle House." Shawn rolled his eyes as if the answer was obvious. 

"Good answer," Angela murmured, seemingly surprised that he had said Waffle house. "Fine. I'll hear what you have to say. But just know, I'm only going because of the food." She smiled sarcastically, jabbing him in his chest with her index finger, turning on her feet and heading out of the student union, not even checking to see if Shawn was following behind her.


	5. Strangers?

Of all of the ways that she could have imagined her day going, being at Waffle House with Shawn Hunter was truly bottom of the list. And she wasn't hating it as much as she expected. Granted, free waffles was not hard to enjoy regardless of the company but Angela truly wasn't hating this altogether.

"And the All-Star Special for my girlfriend here," Shawn told the server with a wide grin, his eyes trained ahead of him. Beside him, Angela glared at the side of his head, her lips set in a thin line. Shawn wore the same dopey grin as he turned his attention to her. "What?"

"Girlfriend?" She glared at him through slanted eyes. "I haven't agreed to anything yet."

"You've kissed me." Shawn slid a finger underneath the bottom of her jacket before taking a small fistful of it and tugging her towards him slightly. "I feel like that's as big an agreement as there is."

Angela spoke through gritted teeth. "Get your hands off of me or I'll break your fingers." The threat was short and plainly delivered, her eyes lacking any humour. Shawn didn't doubt that she would do it or at the very least try. He released her jacket as if burned him to hold it.

The server stuck his head out through the other side and pushed a tray carrying her food on it. Angela's expression turned syrupy sweet and she smiled at the man before grabbing her tray. "Thank you." She turned to Shawn and patted his cheek lightly. "Pay the good man honey."

Shawn opened his mouth to object and seemed to think better about it before he simply shook his head at her and pulled out his debit card before walking to catch up with Angela.

His girlfriend had already managed to find a table for the two of them and had gotten to work moving the food on her plate around. Shawn watched as she furrowed her brows, the look on her face intense. With her fork, she managed to push all of the eggs on her plate to one corner, making sure that every last bit of it was separated from the rest. Next was the bacon and the toast and waffles. When she was done, each food was separated into its own little corner, not touching the rest in the slightest.

Angela raised her head to find Shawn staring at her with a look of horror on his face. "What?" she asked.

"This is extremely concerning. Serial killer behaviour."

"I don't like my food to touch."

"Exactly." Shawn stared at her with an incredulous expression. The two of them had known each other since junior year of high school and even before things between them had gotten unfriendly, Shawn had never known this about her. He'd always assumed that he knew her. One did have to know someone to dislike them—or whatever it was that he felt towards Angela. He wondered what else he didn't know about her.

"So, this plan of yours, are you going to tell me about it or are you just going to watch me eat?"

"Maybe, this was the plan. To fill you up with food so you'd be more open to hearing it." At his words, Angela waved him on with her free hand, motioning for him to get in on with it. "Well, so far the plan is that you and I continue this ruse. Date," he put air quotes around the word, "for a while. In a very public manner and in the end, have a quick possibly explosive breakup."

Angela paused, taking a moment to swallow her eggs. "Why explosive?"

"Explosive means that more people know about it and it means that I might need to be comforted which is where Imogen comes in."

Angela rolled her eyes at him. She wasn't entirely surprised. As long as she'd known Shawn Hunter, the hoard of girls around him had been a constant. They rarely lasted for too long. Even when it seemed that he was serious about somebody, they would quickly be replaced by the next interesting person that caught his eyes. She wasn't interested in playing his games. It wasn't as if he needed much help anyways. "And there it is. Why don't you just date her? Why do I have to be dragged into this?"

"Because women—people in general—want what they can't have, and Imogen and I have been talking for a long time and she's never been as interested in me as she was when she thought we were together. So, I just need to pretend that I'm unavailable for a while and convince her that I would make a good boyfriend."

Angela raised her brow at him. "That seems like an extremely long and complicated game. And you're forgetting that I don't like you very much, so I have nothing to gain from this and I'm not pretending to date you out of the goodness of my heart."

"You get to not be set up on any more blind dates by your dad."

"I'd take a hundred blind dates over you, Hunter. Besides, free food."

"Come on, Angela." He sighed. "You and I both know that you don't hate me as much as you pretend to. We were good once."

Once. When they were younger, and things had been simpler between them. Once, before he'd gone and fucked up whatever fragile balance that they'd found. As nice as it was, there was no way of going back to how it once was between them.

Before she could answer him, she felt a vibration coming from her phone in her pocket. Angela looked away from Shawn and glanced down at her phone screen. Her brows raised. Her father. Angela touched her screen lightly answering the call. She got up from her seat and held up a finger in Shawn's direction as she walked away.

"Hi, daddy." Angela could not keep the inflexion out of her voice. Her father rarely ever reached out to her spontaneously. He was a busy man and when they did speak on the phone, it would often plan weeks before and hours long. Short and random was not his m.o. "How are you?"

"Hey, baby girl. How are you?" His voice was low and reassuring. Her heart felt full. Whatever the reason it was that he was calling her, he was her only family and it was nice to hear from him. She's missed him.

"I'm good. I didn't know we made plans to call. I must have forgotten." She paced the floors, her eyes darting quickly.

"We didn't but I had some time and I figured why not call my favourite girl." Angela smiled at nothing. "And I spoke to Oscar's dad and apparently, you two went on two dates only. Something about you having a boyfriend?"

Of course, he had. "Dad."

"I didn't know you had a boyfriend."

She didn't, clearly. But he didn't know that, and his voice seemed so hopeful at the thought that she hadn't turned out like him. Alone and closed off to love. She couldn't find the heart to tell him that he was wrong. There was no need to let him worry about her.

"It's kind of complicated but yeah, I do."

She could hear the smile in his voice. "I'm glad, honey. You deserve somebody to take care of you for a change." A beat. "And I'm going to be at your school in two weeks or so, recruiting. Maybe we could do dinner and I could meet this boyfriend."

Absolutely not. "Okay. Yes, I'd love to do dinner." Angela turned around to find Shawn staring at her from their table, his eyes following her movement, never once breaking contact. He was, for better or for worse, part of the web that she'd managed to get herself caught in. Perhaps, pretending to be in love with him for a few weeks wasn't the worst thing in the world. "And I'm sure he'd love to meet you."

"Great. I have to go right now but I'm glad I was able to talk to you. I miss you, baby."

"I miss you too dad." She smiled although he couldn't see it. "Bye."

Angela let out a deep sigh through her lips. It was only supposed to be one lie on one night to get out of one bad date. She couldn't even fathom how it had turned into this. It might have been easier to simply call her dad back and tell him that she didn't in fact have a boyfriend and that she'd simply lied but that would lead to a more stressful conversation in which he reminded her once again that just because he was alone, didn't mean that she had to be and a number of blind dates following it. Angela wasn't sure that she could stand that.

There was a smug smile on Shawn's face as she approached the table, although Angela couldn't imagine how he could possibly how he could know the contents of the phone call. Angela bit into her bottom lip and rolled her eyes at him as she took a seat opposite from him. "So, as it turns out, I do have something to gain from this fake relationship so how exactly would it work?"

"We date for however long we need to—"

"A month. My dad gets here in two weeks and he usually stays for about two weeks and he wants to meet my boyfriend so a month should do it. Gives us enough time to deceive Imogen into dating you and getting my dad off my back."

Shawn held a finger up as if he was insulted by her words. "Not deceive, convince."

Angela did not attempt to hold back her laughter. "Whatever you need to tell yourself, Hunter. But we do need rules."

"Are you saying that you don't trust me to be a good fake boyfriend?"

"I'm saying I wouldn't trust you to feed yourself."

"Harsh." A pause. "Probably fair. Okay. Rule number one: you can't tell anybody about this little agreement. We take it to our graves. Nobody else can know."

Angela tilted her head at him. "Not even Topanga?"

"Especially not Topanga. Love her but she tells Cory everything and Cory can't keep a secret to save his life so if he knows then everybody will and then this will be for nothing."

Angela considered this. Topanga and Angela didn't really keep secrets from each other, but Shawn was right. As much as she loved her best friend, she and Cory were basically a married couple at this point, and he would inevitably find out. Perhaps this didn't have to be a lie. A simple omission of information. She didn't really need to know, and it would make her happy. At least until they had to end this agreement. Which meant that everybody would think that she was dating Shawn Hunter for an entire month.

A month. She could do that.

"Fine," she muttered more to herself than to him. "I have more to lose here anyway."

"And we have to kiss." Angela's lips curled in disgust involuntarily. "Hey, don't do that. You kissed me remember? And we're never going to sell this whole thing if you continue to be cold to me. I'm helping you just as much as you're helping me."

A beat. "Fine. You can kiss me five times only in the next month."

Shawn raised his brows at her. "Five times? What are you, celibate? No one's ever going to believe that. I'm known to be a very open lover." He wiggled his brow at her. "Make it at twenty."

"We might as well just fuck in public too." There was a large grin on his face and Angela couldn't hide the smile on hers. "Don't go getting any ideas. Make it twelve and you don't touch me unless I want you to."

Shawn rolled his eyes at her, the smile dropping from his lips. He leaned back into his seat and eyed her slowly. "Jesus, what do you take me for? An animal? I do have some grasp on the word consent and believe me when I do touch you, it'll be because you want it." A small smirk rested on his lips, but his eyes were deadly serious as his gaze rested on hers, drinking in every inch of her.

He looked at her like a revelation.

Angela placed both her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her clasped hands. "You keep talking like that and I might just think you're in love with me."

"And if I was?" There was no hint of a joke in his voice.

"If you were, you'd be stupid and setting yourself up for heartbreak. Everything that will happen between us over the next month will be fake and once it is over with, we'll go back to being strangers."

Shawn raised his brow at her. He didn't need to say it but she knew what he was thinking. They'd never really been strangers even if it was what she tried to convince herself. Even if the year in their senior year of high school had never happened and Shawn hadn't relied on her more than he'd ever depended on. any person in his life. Even if she hadn't held him in the dark. They were a lot of things, Shawn and Angela, but strangers was not one of them.

She shook the thoughts from her mind and forced a small smile onto her lips. "But think of it this way, at least you get a pretty girlfriend out of it."

"I do."

Angela smirked at him. "I'm talking about Imogen if it wasn't clear."

Shawn still did not break his gaze. "I know." She didn't believe him.

Finally, she leaned back in her seat and smiled at him. "Fine. I guess we have a deal." Angela could not imagine what was to come but she was certain that whatever it was, it wouldn't be boring.


End file.
